


Benji's Present

by malecnificenttyrus11



Category: Love Victor (TV 2020)
Genre: 1x05 analysis, Benji's POV, Benji's drawing, Birthday Party, Scene Analysis, Sketching, Victor's Birthday, benji being too pure for this world, crushing!benji, oblivious!boys, secret artist benji, shameless flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25074976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malecnificenttyrus11/pseuds/malecnificenttyrus11
Summary: After Benji is invited to Victor's 16th birthday party, he finds himself thinking of the perfect gift to get to show him just how much Victor means to him. When he catches himself closely observing Victor during the remainder of his shift, he's hit with the perfect gift idea.~This is dedicated to @ starlette01350, who requested this prompt!
Relationships: Victor Salazar/Benjamin "Benji" Campbell, Victor Salazar/Benji Campbell
Comments: 12
Kudos: 112





	Benji's Present

Benji is just finishing up taking an order when he hears a voice call out to him.

"Hey, Benji!"

He turns around to see Lake waving him over in her direction. 

"Hey." He greets her as he stops in front of the table that is currently seating her, Felix, Mia and Victor.

He tries to ignore the slight ache in his chest when he sees Victor and Mia's interlocked hands resting on the table. He shifts his gaze to look at Lake.

"Victor is having a birthday party on Saturday, and his ratio of _hot_ people to _old_ people is _totally_ tragic..." Lake explains in an overly dramatic voice.

Benji raises an eyebrow, laughing.

"Wanna come?" 

Why was Lake inviting Benji to Victor's birthday party instead of Victor?

Also...why did he see Victor panicking out of the corner of his eye? Well... _atleast_ he let go of Mia's hand.

Benji opens his mouth to respond when Victor cuts him off. He turns to look at him.

"I mean...only if you want to. There's... _no pressure._ " Victor rambles out, laughing softly.

Of course he wanted to go...he _loved_ celebrating holidays and important milestones.

Also, it was Victor's birthday, which made it even _more_ important.

Benji smiles, "Sure...I'm in. I'll bring Derek, I mean...if that's cool."

Victor nods, "Yeah!" he exclaims loudly, "I _love_ Derek."

Benji raises an eyebrow at how Victor drags out the word love, laughing softly, "Great. I'll be there." he says, sending them a smile before walking back to the front counter to help the next customer in line. 

~

A little while later, Benji decides to take his lunch break. Instead of sitting in the break room like he usually does, he takes a seat at an empty table in the café...wanting to take some time to think of what he wanted to get Victor for his birthday.

If there was one thing Benji loved the most about holidays and milestones, it was getting people presents.

He loved putting time and effort into picking out the perfect gift, especially when he watched the person's face light up as they opened it.

He was kind of a hopeless romantic, both romantically and platonically.

Benji didn't always like to get people material-based presents...finding that they were too predictable and one-dimensional. Instead, he liked to get something unique and meaningful.

Something that would actually touch the person deeply. 

Benji hasn't known Victor for very long, but he feels like he's gotten to know him fairly well in the few weeks that they've been working together. 

Spending hours together everyday with a person, working closely side-by-side, or in their case, closely side-by-side and _perfectly in-sync,_ made it very easy to connect.

The connection between him and Victor was instantaneous, immediate...no awkwardness or period of 'testing the waters.' It was as if they'd known eachother forever.

It was really nice, actually.

"Hey, Benji...did you want me to make you your usual while you're on break?" Victor calls out.

Benji looks over at him, smiling, "You remember my coffee order?"

Victor nods, "Of course I do. It's kind of hard not to when you're constantly explaining your extensive and in-depth reasoning for putting two-and-a-half sugars into the coffee." he teases.

Benji rolls his eyes, "Rude. Also...you forgot-"

"That you also like half-a-cup of milk and a full-cup of creamer. Like I said...your coffee order is permanently ingrained into my mind." Victor finishes his sentence, turning to prepare the drink.

Benji laughs, "You love it." he teases.

Victor hums in response, attention now focused on preparing Benji's coffee order.

A minute later Victor walks over to Benji, setting down the steaming coffee in front of him.

Benji glances up at him, "Did you get all the correct measurements? You know I take my coffee _very_ seriously."

Victor rolls his eyes fondly, crossing his arms over his chest, "Why don't you try it and find out."

Benji picks up the coffee, bringing it up to his nose and inhaling the scent. He brings the cup to his lips, taking a sip.

He pretends to be in deep thought, and Victor groans.

"It's _perfect_." Benji says, and Victor smirks.

"Told you." He says pointedly, turning on his heel to return to his spot behind the counter, fist pumping the air in success.

Benji laughs, shaking his head, "Dork."

"You love it." Victor mimics him, and Benji sighs.

_ He wasn't wrong. _

He shifts his thoughts back to potential birthday gift options for Victor. Normally he can instantly think of the perfect gift for a person, but he finds himself struggling in this instance.

Victor is different than everyone else. He isn't as materialistic or high-maintenance as the majority of the kids at Creekwood. That's one of the things Benji likes the most about him.

He, like Benji, seems to value meaningful things over materialistic things with a high price tag.

Benji wants to get Victor something that really expresses how much he values the strong friendship that they'd developed.

Something that expresses the feelings beneath the surface of their friendship that Benji is too afraid to confront.

Benji shifts his gaze from the table over towards Victor, who's in deep-concentration while working on the expresso machine.

He finds his eyes tracing every inch of Victor's body, from the curve of his lips to the broadness of his shoulders.

Benji has always thought that Victor was attractive, but in this moment he finds himself almost... _mesmerized_ by him, picking up on the small details that he hadn't noticed before.

He wasn't sure why...but he couldn't look away.

Benji commits all of the details of Victor to memory, wanting to keep them ingrained in his mind.

And that's when it hits him...the perfect gift idea.

~

Later that night Benji lays across his bed, pencil in hand and sketchbook in front of him. 

Benji has never really told anyone...but he's always had a secret talent for sketching. He's no Picasso...but he'd say he was fairly talented. 

Anything pertaining to music or the arts came very naturally to Benji, since it had always been an emotional outlet of sorts to him.

After much deliberation earlier in the day, he'd decided that he was going to sketch Victor a portrait of himself. The decision was finalized after he found himself spending the remainder of his shift observing Victor closely...

_ maybe a bit too closely, if he was honest. _

Benji closes his eyes, the vivid image of Victor standing at the expresso machine appearing in his mind. 

He opens his eyes, bringing his pencil to the paper of his sketchbook and lightly outlining the figure which would hopefully turn out looking like victor. 

He lightly sketches the beginnings of a facial structure, making sure to accent Victor's defined cheekbones. They weren't sharp-as-a-knife, but they were relatively chiseled.

He thinks back to how unreal Victor's facial structure looked from his angle at the table. I mean, his side-profile was _to die for._

Not that Benji hadn't noticed it before...since they worked in close-proximity for hours at a time and he'd very often looked at Victor from the side. But this was different...

_ it was as if he was really seeing victor for the first time. _

Benji shifts his focus to working on the next crucial part of the drawing...the eyes.

Not just any eyes though... _Victor's eyes,_ the eyes that he felt himself getting lost in when they lingered on his. The eyes that were so warm, so inviting, so... _comforting_.

He brings his pencil down towards the paper, sketching two medium-sized ovals. He thinks back to the first moment he really looked into Victor's eyes...during his first barista training. 

Benji's heart races when he thinks about the way Victor looked at him in that moment. It was like he could see into Benji's soul...it both _excited and terrified_ him at the same time.

Nobody looked at Benji that way...he felt himself hanging onto that look, afraid of it  disappearing. 

Benji moves towards the details of the eyes, making sure to shade them perfectly. Victor's eyes are at first glance dark-as-night. But if the light hits them in just the right way...you can see that they are actually dark-hazel. 

You really can find yourself drowning in them...and Benji often finds himself doing just that. But for some reason... _he doesn't fight it._

Once he is satisfied with the eyes, Benji lightly sketches his best attempt at Victor's nose, shifting his attention next to the lips.

Benji can feel his face heating up as he pictures Victor's lips in his mind. He ignores the way the first words that cross his mind are soft... _inviting_.

_ No, Benji...focus on the details. _

Benji bites his lower lip in concentration, starting to sketch. He makes sure to get the curves of his lips, not-too-plump-but-just-right, perfect. 

Next...was the eyebrows. Victor's eyebrows are _unfair_ , if Benji was to be completely honest. They were thick, but perfectly shaped with a very defined arch. 

He darkly sketches the shape of his eyebrows, using light, even strokes for the individual hairs. 

The final part of the face that he has to complete before moving on is shading the skin. Benji uses the side of his pencil to gently shade in the definition of Victor's cheekbones...lightly shading Victor's skin to match his (beautiful) cinnamon complexion. He uses his finger to blend the shading.

Benji smiles when he observes his work so far, shocking himself at just how much it resembled Victor's face.

He then moves on to sketch Victor's hair, which was also, no surprise here... _perfect_. It was always perfectly combed back and always looked soft.

Sometimes, Victor would come into work with his hair falling onto his forehead...and Benji would get weak in the knees at how he looked so soft and...domestic. He was somehow able to pull off both looks perfectly.

Benji always found himself wanting to run his fingers through it, although he wasn't sure why.

He finds himself losing his train of thought, and shakes himself back into reality. A text message grabs his attention, and he's honestly grateful for the temporary distraction.

He reaches for his phone, smiling when he sees a text from the boy currently occupying his mind. 

_ V: Hey : ) I know I didn't say it earlier but...I'm really happy you're coming to my birthday party tomorrow.  _

Benji laughs softly, composing a text message back.

_B: I'm happy I'm coming, too. Although I am slightly offended that the first time I heard about this was from Lake inviting me *sad_ _face emoji*_

Honestly, he wasn't lying...he was surprised that Victor hadn't mentioned it to him himself. Maybe Victor hadn't wanted him to be there...

Benji shakes the thought from his head, knowing that isn't at all true.

His phone buzzes with a reply from Victor.

_ V: I'm sorry...that was really shitty of me. Honestly I wasn't even planning on having the party at first. And then my parents had another fight and...there I was, becoming the fixer again. And then I found out my abuelo and abuelita were flying in and...I really didn't want to subject you to a party with my dysfunctional family. _

Benji frowns at Victor's response.

Victor had already told him bits and pieces of what had been going on at home, and it honestly broke Benji's heart. It broke his heart even more for Victor to think he wouldn't be there for him.

_B: Trust me...I'm no stranger to family dysfunction. You aren't subjecting me to anything. It's your birthday and we're friends...so I want to be there : )_

Victor responds seconds later.

_ V: That makes me feel slightly better. Well... I'll see you tomorrow at la fiesta disfuncional de Victor. It's going to be a great time. _

Benji laughs at he imagines Victor saying that last part in his overly-sarcastic voice. 

_ B: See you then, birthday boy! Sweet dreams _

He tosses his phone beside him, a wide smile still on his face. He turns back to his sketch, immediately getting back to work.

He shifts his attention to working on the bottom half of the sketch...Victor's body.

Benji finds himself turning red when he thinks about Victor's tall, slim-but-fit body. He wasn't ripped, but he had muscles that flexed perfectly inside his tight Brasstown t-shirt.

_ Focus, Benji...you should not be thinking this way. _

Benji sketches Victor's t-shirt and apron, trying to ignore the way his mind shifts over to thoughts of the broadness of Victor's shoulders. 

Before his thoughts trail off even more into this uncharted, dangerous territory, Benji switches over to sketching the expresso machine in front of Victor. 

He spends an unnecessary amount of time drawing, erasing, and redrawing the details on the machine...

mostly in attempt to keep his feelings at bay.

Eventually he realizes that he needs to finish sketching Victor...since his sketch currently had no arms or hands. There was no way that Victor would like a sketch of him looking like he was the victim in a horror movie.

Honestly, Victor would probably lie and say that he liked it...because that's just how he was.

Benji laughs to himself, moving his pencil over and carefully sketching Victor's arms...making sure to detail their longness and slight-muscularity.

He tries to fight off the thought of what it would be like to be hugged by Victor...his arms wrapping securely around Benji's shorter, more-compact frame. 

There's been several times where Benji's almost crossed that line, which wouldn't have been _totally_ bad since they were friends.

even if a small part of him, deep down, wasnt completely averse to the idea of them being something _more_.

Benji shakes himself from his thoughts, finishing up the details of the arms and moving onto the hands.

He blushes furiously as he thinks about Victor's hands, and how his skin tingles whenever their hands brush, or Victor grips his shoulder firmly.

Benji quickly finishes up the remainder of the drawing, realizing that he spent far more time than he anticipated on it since his thoughts kept drifting off. He doesn't care though, because the sketch actually turned out amazing.

He carefully pulls the page out of his sketch book, bringing it closer to him and admiring his work. 

This was actually one of the best drawings that Benji had ever done, and the first one he's ever done from memory.

It was as if Victor had woken up a whole new artistic side to him...one that he didn't know existed.

Benji smiles, standing up from his bed and walking over to grab a sharpie from his desk, signing the bottom corner of the drawing in cursive. He then walks over to his bag, pulling out the gift box that he'd bought to put the drawing into.

He slides the drawing into the box...it fitting perfectly.

Benji sets the gift box onto his desk, falling backwards onto his bed and staring up at his ceiling.

Whether or not Benji was ready to admit it to himself...he knew that something shifted in his feelings for Victor. If anything, today just reaffirmed that.

_ Benji had feelings for Victor, and he was completely screwed. _

~

Benji walks into Victor's apartment building, gift clutched tightly in his hands. Derek went to find a parking space, and Benji was silently grateful that he'd get to greet Victor without him.

Also, he wanted to give Victor his present privately, without Derek's judgemental look looming over him. He was already nervous enough about Victor liking it...he didn't need Derek adding onto it.

_ Especially since he'd spent their entire car ride going off on a tangeant about how handmade gifts were cheesy and heteronormative...something that only straight people made in order to clout chase on social media. _

Benji finally finds Victor's apartment, taking a deep breath before he lifts his hand up to knock. Just before he does, the door swings open, Lake and Felix about to make their way out.

Benji looks between them awkwardly, slowly lowering his hand back down to his side.

She sighs, rolling her eyes, " _Of course_ I have to leave when the _one_ sexy person shows up..." she smiles at him, pushing past him into the hallway.

"No offense, Victor!" She yells out, and Benji raises an eyebrow.

Felix gives him a small smile before following Lake out of the apartment. Benji smiles when he sees Victor.

"Hey! Benji...you made it." Victor says, grinning at him.

"Hey." Benji says happily, walking into the apartment. He's so busy admiring how cute Victor looks that he doesn't even realize he's still holding his gift.

He laughs to himself, holding the gift out towards Victor, "Just a little something for the birthday boy." 

Victor's eyes widen in surprise, reaching out to grab the gift. He looks down at it, looking back up to smile at Benji.

"You didn't have to get me a gift..." He says softly.

_And there it was..._

Benji shrugs, smiling at the ground. He opens his mouth to say something...but the moment is interrupted when Derek walks into the apartment.

The rest of Victor's birthday party is pretty interesting... _to say the least._

Benji isn't angry at Victor for the way his family treated him and Derek, although he knows that it might've came off that way. Most of his anger was actually the frustration of having to deal with Derek's miserable attitude that Victor's family caused. 

Honestly, Benji didn't know the extent of how much Victor was dealing with at home...and the fact that he was dealing with it all on his birthday, a day that was supposed to be happy and special, made him feel even worse.

Things did turn around, however, and the rest of the night went relatively smoothly. 

Benji might had imagined it...but he was almost certain that Victor had looked at him before blowing out the candles on his cake. 

~

Later that night Benji is laying on his bed, eyes focused on the ceiling and hands resting on his stomach.

All he can think about is whether or not Victor had opened his present yet...and whether or not he liked it.

_He really hoped that he liked it._

Benji is snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of his phone buzzing beside him. He reaches over to grab it, unlocking it and smiling when he sees a text from Victor.

_V: Hey, Benji. Thank you so much for your gift...it was the most meaningful thing anyone's ever done for me. It was actually the only gift I got today, too."_

Benji frowns...heart sinking when he thinks about the fact that nobody had gotten Victor anything for his birthday.

Not just his birthday, but his 16th birthday...which is a _big milestone._

_B: I'm really glad that you liked it, Victor. It came from the heart. So...was your birthday everything you wanted and more? : )_

A few seconds later, Victor replies.

_V: I have to say...it was a pretty intense day. And didn't go completely how I'd hoped. Listen, Benji...I'm sorry again for everything that happened. : (_

Benji sighs...he doesn't want Victor to beat himself up over what had went down at his party. Especially not when it's his birthday.

_B: Victor...you don't have to apologize, it's okay. Like I said before...it's still hard for me to be who I am. But...I know that you don't hold those beliefs, and its not your fault that your family does. Your family isn't a reflection on you, because I know who you really are._

_B: Please don't beat yourself up over it, because I'm not angry at you._

_V: That's comforting to hear. Also, like I said, the person you are is really great. I think that's an understatement, actually...judging by how uber-talented you are at everything._

A second later, Victor sends a follow up text message with a photo attached.

_V: I mean...look at this. You literally captured me so well : ) In fact...its almost like the sketch is more attractive than me._

Benji grins when he sees a selfie of Victor smiling brightly next to the sketch of him.

And then Benji notices that Victor had framed his drawing, and he feels his heart burst in his chest. 

Benji stares at the selfie for a few seconds, overwhelmed by just how adorable Victor is. He types a message back.

_B: That's impossible ; ) But really...I'm glad you liked it._

_V: I loved it* . Also...I can't believe I never knew you drew. I mean...you're literally a triple-threat with singing, guitar and now this. Holy shit. *starstruck eyes emoji*_

Benji blushes furiously, fumbling with his thumbs as he thinks of a response to Victor's message. 

_B: You flatter me, Victor. *blushy emoji* So...wish for anything special earlier?_

A few seconds go by before Victor replies, and Benji chuckles at his response.

_V: I'd tell you...but I'd have to kill you. Also I am not going to risk it not coming true *shooting star emoji*_

_B: That's fair. Well whatever it was...I hope that it comes true : )_

_V: Yeah, me too._

_B: Well, I'll let the birthday boy get some rest. Sweet dreams, Victor. Happy Birthday again *heart emoji*_

_V: You too, Benji. *heart emoji*_

Benji falls back down onto his bed, clutching his phone against his chest and making a wish of his own.

_I wish that one day, maybe...Victor and I will be together._


End file.
